Lifestyle

General Motors Corporation (GM) has posted its first annual loss since 1992. GM reported losing US$4.8 billion in the fourth quarter of 2005 and a total loss of $8.6 billion for the entire year. GM admitted Thursday night that the loss could swell further as it pays pensions and healthcare costs to thousands of former workers. GM warned that the amount calculated for last year is preliminary and could rise before it is officially reported to the US securities and exchanges commission in March. The loss was far greater than analysts predicted.

__NOTOC__ West Papuan asylum seekers, who arrived in Australia last week, were forced to make a 4000 kilometre journey to Christmas Island despite suspicions they had tuberculosis. The West Papuans were flown to Christmas Island on an RAAF Hercules last week. Two of the group, a man and his child, have now been flown the 2,600 kilometres to Perth, Western Australia from the remote Indian Ocean island. Air force personnel had initially refused to fly them, concerned that the flight crew's health would be at risk. "It's a complete farce, absur

Anti-whaling activists are heading home after a month of pestering the Japanese whaling fleet near Antarctica. With dwindling food and fuel supplies, the Greenpeace ships Arctic Sunrise and Esperanza are heading for Cape Town. The Sea Shepherd's Farley Mowat has also left the area due to a refuelling cancellation. The three ships were in the Whale Sanctuary where the controversial Japanese whaling fleet continue to hunt and kill hundreds of Minke whales, including the endangered Fin whales - for what Japan calls "lethal scientific research."

A mutated form of the Avian (Bird Flu) virus has been found in a sample taken from a Turkish patient. The mutated form is said to make the virus easier to attach itself to humans rather than animals says a report in the Nature journal. The situation is being monitored by the World Health Organization but says "it is too early to know whether the virus is changing in ways that would signal the start of a human flu pandemic," says Maria Cheng a spokeswoman for the WHO. "It's one isolate from a single virus from Turkey. The sample suggests the v

A cow in the Province Alberta, Canada, has tested positive for Mad Cow disease, said Canadian Food Inspection Agency officials on Monday. Officials also stated that the six-year-old cross-bred cow did not make it into the human or animal feed chain. "Last evening the...laboratory for BSE located in Winnipeg confirmed the presence of BSE in a cross-bred cow born and raised in Alberta," said CFIA chief veterinarian Brian Evans. "The animal was detected on the farm where it was born and no part of this animal entered the food for human consumpti

Experts are now fearing the worst for the northern bottle-nosed whale that is still swimming in the Thames river London. The Thames Whale was first spotted on Thursday, with widespread media coverage yesterday and huge crowds of spectators attracted to the river. There were hopes that the whale was heading back out to sea, but these were dashed by a fresh sighting of the whale from Albert bridge in Chelsea. Experts say that the whale is now looking increasingly distressed, with numerous cuts to its body. The whale has already been partly beac

In Mellville, West Virginia, the remains of two miners have been found. The two miners had disappeared at the Alma coal mine when a conveyor belt caught fire. "We have found the two miners we were looking for for [sic] the past 40 hours," said Doug Conaway, director of the state Office of Miners' Health Training and Safety. "Unfortunately we don't have a positive outcome." Governor Joe Manchin, Massey Energy Chairman Don Blankenship and U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller went to a church where the victims families were waiting to tell them the news

Former Australian opposition leader and leader of the Australian Labor Party, Mark Latham has been accused of assaulting and stealing a camera belonging to a photographer for The Daily Telegraph in Sydney. The newspaper claims that Latham assaulted photographer Ross Schultz, injuring his wrist outside a fast-food restaurant in Campbelltown, a suburb in Sydney's South-West. It is alleged that Latham stole Shultz's camera and smashed it with a hammer when he returned home. The Daily Telegraph claims that Latham later handed the smashed camera t

A message in a bottle thrown into the sea by a four-year-old girl in England has been found 9,000 miles away in Western Australia. Alesha Johnson threw the bottle into the water at Morecambe Bay, Lancashire last July, enclosing her Heysham address, and a picture of herself. The note read: "If you get this message, please write back." This week, she received a letter from a 10-year-old from Perth, who said he had found the bottle in a local Boatyard. Doreen Johnson, the manager of the nursery Alesha attends in Heysham, said: "We were all v

A New Zealand newspaper reported on Wednesday the 18th of January that the New Zealand Ministry of Health intends to send out brochures, to about 1.4 million households in a national mail drop; on how to prepare for a Avian Flu pandemic. It is believed that the campaign would begin in March. The brochures will contain information on how to set up emergency kits, and hygiene guides. The brochures will complement print, radio and television advertising, which will be running at the same time. Advertising started this week on National Radio; New

The Delhi High Court expressed its displeasure to the civic authorities on their continued failure to resolve the problem of marauding monkeys in the court premises. The court was in session when the public interest litigation filed by a Supreme Court lawyer was brought to its attention. The petitioner Mr.Nirmal Chopra argued the case and explained how the simians showed up during work hours and attacked people and snatched food from them. The rhesus monkeys have also been blamed for damaging furniture belonging to the lawyers and courtroom fi

Iraq health officials are reportedly looking into the death of a teenaged girl who died near the border with Turkey, which is believed to possibly be linked to the H5N1 Asian bird flu. The young woman lived near a resevoir used as a stopover for migratory birds traveling from Turkey. Her family kept domestic birds, some of which have been sick and died; it is unknown at this time if any of the birds were infected with H5N1. The inquiry is being investigated, and blood samples have been sent to Jordan for further testing. Residents in the reg